Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, and Happy New Year from Your Beloved aGSTC Family
AND NOW....LET'S GET READY FOR 2017
1. Register for the club for 2017,
2. Register for the GSTC Gala on Saturday Night, February 4
| | | Members relax at the bar during the Gala last year |
February 4th, 2017 aGSTC Gala Schedule 4:30-5:30 5:30-6:00 Awards & Speaker Christina Epps, 2016 USA Olympian
6:30-7:30 Drinks/Dessert/Mingle
7:30-8:00 Hall of Fame/Highlight Video/Awards
8:00-9:00 Speaker Jack Daniels: "World's Best Coach"
9:00-9:30 Book Signings/Mingling
9:30 After Party: Garden State Alehouse
| | | Want a uniform to look as good as these ladies? Contact Joe Jacobs via Facebook. He also gives GSTC members discounts on all shoes and gear, as well through his store, Sneaker Factory - Florham Park. |
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| | Team Results [please email us your results! we don't see everything posted on social media!]
2016 USATF Club XC Nationals
50s Men Finish 7th  The men's masters 50's team had the highest finish of all competing aGSTC teams at the 2016 USATF Club XC National Championships in Tallahassee, Florida. Finishing 7th with 158 points, they finished between 6th place Bowerman TC (Oregon) and 8th place Atlanta Track Club (Georgia).
Rich Osifchin was the team's top finisher, as he was the twelve 50s finisher in 36:35. Gary Leaman (37:07/18th) and John Hendy (35th/38:32) were the team's #2 and #3 finishers, while Kevin Dollard (45th/40:46) and Matt Baker (48th/44:26) rounded out the scoring five.
40's master Thom Knowles, far right, ran 36:08 and finished 68th overall in the men's masters race.
Open Men Finish 14th | | The men prepare for the gun on the starting line
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In one of the most competitive national championships in event history, the open men finished 14th out of thirty-six teams with 372 points. With that result, they were the 5th East Coast team to finish.
Sub-29:00 10k stars Alfredo Santana and Cameron Marantz were unable to make the race.
Tommy Awad, an Olympic Trials semi-finalist in the 1500m, was the team's top man, finishing 35th overall in 30:37. Just behind him was Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier Matt Gillette who ran 30:42 for 39th. From there, Kyle Price (32:28) and Evan Ward (32:43) were the final scoring members, with Tyler Melius as the insurance #6 man.
| | | Gillette and Stetler after climbing "the wall" |
The B Team had a very respectable race, as they finished in 26th place- beating ten teams, or 25%, of the field. Although they were the top B Team last year in San Francisco, DC's Georgetown Running Company edged them out by two places for this year's award.
Steve Rathbun was the team's top dog, running an impressive 32:59 to put the cherry on top of a career season. Will Appman** (33:25) was close on his heels as the #2 man, with Matt Eder (33:26) finishing in third. Kevin D'Emic (33:49) and Mike Anis (35:24) closed out the scoring the group, as Ryan DeGregorio (36:58) and Brendan Conway (38:44) were the 6-7 men.
*although, much to his chagrin, he still fell one second short of Chuck's 10k PR this season. **this guy was in Tallahassee Saturday night and in Buffalo Sunday night for the Steelers-Bills game. Crazy dude!
Open Women Finish 23rd | | | The ladies circle up before the starting gun. |
The open women finished 23rd down in Tallahassee, just behind the Columbus Running Company (22nd) and ahead of the SISU Project (24th). They scored 611 total points.
| | | Chegwidden in a pack during the first loop. |
As she has been for most of the year, Aimee Chegwidden was the team's top finisher, running the 6k course in 22:23. Teammates Chelsea Callan (23:23), Erika Meling (23:32), Nicole Salge (24:06), Shannon McKenna (24:31), Kate Ashley (24:51), and Christina Chafos (26:53).
Team Visits Lamest Florida Beach Ever After the race, the team was promised an exciting afternoon on a tropical Florida beach. This is what they got: Wakulla Beach. Not exactly anyone's spring break destination.
Team Takes Group Picture at Lamest Florida Beach Ever Because there was really nothing else to do there.
Tis The Season: GSTC'ers Run Super Santa 5k Douma Wins in SB 19:48 Rachel Wiegers (left) was certainly in the spirit during the Super Santa 5k weeks ago, as she rocked the full holiday garb in the GSTC's favorite holiday race. She ran 28:09 despite all the bells, leggings, and hat! Megan Cafferty (27:46), Prudence Jones (33:49), Anne Balfour (21:38), and Mike Terruso (20:37, first in AG, on right) also ran the Morristown-based 5k.
Long-standing member Alyssa Douma won the women's race with a speedy 19:48, a season best.
Ashenfelter: The 2016 Grand Finale Men Sweep Top Four Team Spots The GSTC ended the 2016 USATF-NJ Grand Prix season in style, bringing a huge contingent to the Ashenfelter 8k race, a long-standing Thanksgiving tradition.
The open men killed it, sweeping the top four podium spots with teams that averaged 25:57, 26:33, 26:36, and 26:45. Steve Mennitt was the team's top finisher and was on the winning team, as his 24:39 was a PR for the distance. Kyle Price (24:41) and Josh Neyhart (24:44) helped the club go 3-4-5, as Steve Rathbun (7th, 25:17), Kevin D'Emic (9th, 25:38), and Matt Eder (10th, 25:44) helped the club put six in the top ten.
| | | Price, Neyhart, and Mennitt lead the first mile |
Mennitt, Rathbun, Ted Doyle (25:59), Ricky Garcia (26:34), Tony Harris (27:14), and Tom Visicaro (28:47) comprised the winning team. Incredibly, Doyle has just ran a marathon PR the week before, and Harris had worked until 3:00am the night before.
Shawn Bender made his club debut (32:37), while Zak "Zach" Martins (27:14) and Kyle "Kylie" Mahoney (29:37) blessed the team with their yearly races.
| | | Hendy and VanLangen crest the bridge at mile three |
The masters men's 40s team finished a close second place, as Thomas Knowles (no relation to Beyonce) and Aaron Cooper (no relation to James Fenimore or Anderson) were the team's 1-2 punch running great races of 27:29 and 28:04, respectively. Gary Leaman (28:26), John Hendy (29:19), and Nick VanLangen (29:27) rounded out the group's scoring top five.
The masters men's 50s team also nabbed a silver medal, as front-runners Leaman, Hendy, and VanLangen were the crew's 1-2-3 finishers. Filling out the rest of the squad were Yuki Negoro (32:28), Brian Harris (33:01), Kenny Huryk (33:09), Karl Leitz (35:10). The top five averaged an incredible 30:32.
The masters men's 60s team was 10th overall, as the always-reliable Peter Auteri was the top man at 36:17. Friend and training partner Fran Beideman (40:22) and Edison-resident John Bergacs (51:30) rounded out the scoring team.
| | | McKenna finishes just ahead of masters teammate Brian Harris |
The open women split their squad and went 3-7 in the team scoring. Longstanding member Chelsea Callan (30:42) and first-year member Amy Williams (32:13) were the team's top two finishers on the top team, with Nikki Hallenberg (32:37)Shannon McKenna (33:02), and Steph Zottoli (33:20) rounded out the top scoring five.
Aya Leitz (33:30) and Heather McDermott (33:43) were the top two finishers fopr the 7th place team.
The masters 40s women, above, finished 10th overall. Cherylann Dorsey (34:35), Erin Varga (39:49), Jenn Dos Santos (40:51), and Ellen Patterson (41:37) were the team's four runners.
New Year Resolutions: Parisen to Eat Healthy in 2017 Last week, Mark Parisen announced on Instagram, via the above picture, that he was now eating healthy starting on January 1 (Editor's note: we totally believe him).
Philly Half Marathon Results
Several team members ran the Philly Half Marathon in late November, a day that turned out to be incredibly sunny and warm. They included Steve Wallis (72:52, or 5:38/mile; left) Ashwin Anantharaman (76:42, or 5:51/mile), and Erika Meling (88:14, or 6:43/mile; right
Liberto BQs in Philly Masters runner Rob Liberto, 41, ran his first marathon weeks ago, and sure enough, he qualified for Boston while doing so. The Princeton Enclaver ran a very solid 3:08:35 debut, or 7:11 pace, in tough Sunday conditions. He placed 454th overall, and 46/762 in his age group.
A Kunze Thanksgiving Pretty sure he won his Turkey Trot. We can't find any results. He didn't respond to our FB message. So here is a great picture of Jarrett in the final stretch, as per his fiance's FB post.
An Ashley Thanksgiving In a final tune-up before club nationals, Kate Ashley won the Up North Turkey Trot in Traverse City, Michigan with a fine time of 19:43--an all-time 5k personal best!
A Salge Thanksgiving Nicole Salge gobbled up a win at the "Run Your Giblets Off" 5k way down in Lincroft's Thompson Park. Although there are no official results online (?), Salge won the race in 18:55. After the race, she did state that her gibblets were, in fact, run off.
A Teichmann Thansgiving The Teichmanns did the annual bro-sis Turkey Trot at the Garden City Turkey Trot. With the little brother Dan helping her pace, Brianne ran a five mile personal best of 36:46, or 7:17/mile. This tops her previous best of 38:15.
It's Really $%^&ing Cold Out There
That is all.
Gillette Wins Run for Diamonds Yes, Yet Again He Wins the Race...And Wins a Diamond For the second year in a row, big Matt Gillette won the famous "Run for Diamonds" eight mile race in 45:42, holding off Olympic Trials steepler Trevor Vanackeren. After two straight years of being the runner-up, Gillette has now been King of the Hills--with two diamonds to prove it.
Westfield Turkey Trot
EHT Nature Reservation Turkey Trot Club members Lee Mooney timed it, and Lisa Jones won it in 20:18. That's all you need to know about this unique South Jersey cross country 5k Thanksgiving classic!
Pat is Back....Again! Shoot. This was a Facebook memory from the Super Santa 5k one year ago posted last week. Oh well. She looks great here, doesn't she?!
BR 5k: Club Goes 1-3 You Know This Team Email Is Long Overdue When It's Freezing Outside And There Are Pictures of Guys Wearing Tshirts and Tank Tops in the Warm Sun Kyle Price and Mike Kennedy went 1-3 in the very random "Basking Ridge Turkey Trot", running 15:50 and 16:52, respectively. This was a big PR for Kennedy, who has an incredible first year with the club. They are posing with Rich Luettchau, and Olympic Trials racewalker, who finished second overall.
Awad Wins Rothman 8k Tommy Awad made an incredible debut for the aGSTC, as the UPenn grad scorched the Philly Marathon's "Rothman 8k" course in 23:59. After sitting with the front pack for three miles, the 3:55 miler dropped the hammer, surging into the lead where he would stay for the remainder of the race. He averaged 4:49 in the dominating win, as he finished eleven seconds ahead of the silver medalist from Brighton, MA.
Also racing well were teammates Sean Stetler (10th, 24:47), Josh Neyhart (24:53), Matt Lutcza (25:24), and Tyler Melius (26:47).
Martins Finishes 27th Semester at Ohio State University Ohio State fans aren't celebrating a football win in the above picture. Instead, they are spelling out "Zach Mart" to recognize Zack's 27th semester at the university. GSTC loyalist Z-Mart, back right, will be soon looking to apply what he learned in "Turf Management" and "Dinosaurs" to the real world "very, very soon." Mennitt, Elgin Repeat as Big Chill Champs | | | Mennitt (throwback uniform, left) and Flores (right) crest the George Street hill at mile one.
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For the second straight year, GSTC'ers Meg Elgin and Steve Mennitt won the Big Chill 5k, landing each a pair of season tickets for the 2017 Rutgers Football season.
On the men's side, the club put seven in the top eight spots, as Mennitt won in 15:56. From there, Darrell Gooding (16:06), Edsel Flores (PR- 16:12), and Ricky Garcia (16:29) swept the top four spots. After that, Maanek Kumar (16:39), Dylan Hallahan (16:48), and Jaris Rousseau (17:07) placed 6th-7th-8th, respectively.
Meg Elgin defended her crown easily, winning the women's race in 17:55. Elgin lead off last year's 1200m that won the Millrose Games distance medley relay for the first time in club history.
Others who ran were Ryan Degregorio (17:48), Brian Colella (18:59), Conor O'Brien (19:19), Charlie Groll (21:05), and Pete Klapsogeorge (21:36). Tiger Li ran too, but he didn't have a chip, so the heck with him.
After 12 Years, McDermott Leaves Running Company If You're Looking for a Realtor, She is Your Woman! After spending twelve years as the manager of the Morristown Running Company, long-standing GSTC member and Morristown Enclave captain Heather McDermott has moved on from her post to become a realtor with Re/MAX. Here is a note from her to all GSTC'ers:
"Hi! If we haven't already met, my name is Heather McDermott and I'm one of your GSTC teammates. I recently joined the Elms-Dougherty Group at RE/MAX Properties Unlimited and I would love to help you out if you are thinking of buying, selling or renting in NJ. I will go the extra mile for all of your real estate needs! You can contact me at RealtorHMC@gmail.com or (860) 978-4069."
Timochko & Son Rock HP5k Masters runner Jason Timochko was second in the Harrington Park 5k in 18:26, while his son won the one mile race in 6:37. A great day for the Timochko family!
Several GSTC members ran the Westfield Hangover Run this morning, and somehow had the energy afterward to take this fantastic picture above. Although, to be fair, it does look like Gary Leaman, far right, is falling from a low-flying airplane. Club members who ran were Gary Leaman (5th/17:32), Sam Tooley (6th/17:43), Conor Krueger (8th/17:53), John Hendy (12th/18:12), Sarah Schillaci (2nd/19:22), Kenny Huryk (20:45), Eric Davis (21:00), Aya Leitz (21:06), and Karl Leitz (21:28).
At the Resolution Run in Hillsborough, Amy Williams opened up her 2017 campaign with a sizzling 19:03 win. Political Posts Continue as Morgan Doesn't Sell Out on Christmas Day While many club members sold out during the holidays and spent time with their families and friends, Tim Morgan fought the good fight, posting myriad memes that exposed the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of organized religion.
New Email Segment: The Crystal Ball In this new segment in the club email, we make bold predictions about the futures of our current members. We use a complex (and secret. very secret) formula of seeing into the future; we have been developing this logarithm for years. Now, it is complete and ready to be revealed as we begin the 2017 season.
Prediction #1 In the Year 2030: Tim Morgan Runs, Yet Loses, A Bid for South Plainfield Sheriff
Prediction #2 In the Year 2030: Martins Will Continue Predicting Ohio State Score At End of Races At Ashenfelter, Zak Martins successfully predicted the score of his Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, as he flashes up a "0" with his Ohio State gloves weeks ago at Ashenfelter (they lost 31-0 to Clemson last night). We predict that we will continue to predict OSU scores at the end of his road races.
Next Team Email See what the Crystal Ball Says About Mark Parisen's "New Skill"on Linked In |
Winter Workouts Highland Park HS Monday and Wednesday nights (5:30) and Saturday mornings (10:00am), all are welcomed to join the club for track workouts. Run whatever intervals at whatever pace you wish. Either way, the energy is awesome out there!
Pictures of the Week Do you run between 9:00-12:00 pace? Come join the Steady Striders for group runs around NJ!
Imagine that an asteroid has collided with Earth. The world is ending. This is the last train to safety. Seriously....what would you do?
SUNDAY TEAM RUNS Start Time 9:00am | | Yes! the Sunday team runs are always this fun!!
Check Main Facebook Group Page for Details Runners of all abilities, going all distances, come out....so you should, too |
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| | Kyle's Kallaborative This week on the Kyle's Korner we've got the exclusive from some of our esteemed XC Club Nats participants that ran down in Tallahassee. Here your look at the inside scoop!
Evan Ward
Kyle: How was your first nationals experience with the club?
Mr. Ward: I had an amazing time, the course was great, the race was really competitive, and being with everyone and getting to know everyone better was awesome.
Kyle: What was it like being around so many big time runners?
Mr. Ward: It was pretty surreal seeing these extremely talented runners being in the same race even though they were pretty far in front of me. The atmosphere was awesome.
Aimee Chegwidden
Kyle: How did that race play out? Strategic or fast and reckless?
Ms. Chegwidden: More strategic. I tried to take it out conservative, hoping to negative split each mile but it turned out to be very consistent.
Kyle: How did you like the 6k course?
Ms. Chegwidden: I liked the course a lot, it was fast but more challenging than I anticipated. [But] it was a lot of fun.
| | | The team eats out in Tallahassee |
Thom Knowles
Kyle: How was the competition for the masters race?
Mr. Knowles: Competition was pretty intense. It's widely considered the most competitive and deep masters field of any race during the year, in any discipline (road, track, XC, trail). It draws basically all of the best masters around the country. There are no elite masters athletes in the country who don't run the race. So I try to keep that in mind when I look at the results.
Kyle: Did you place about where you expected to?
Mr Knowles: It was hard to set a goal for the race actually. Obviously I'd never run the course so tough to go by time and you don't know who's going to show up so it's tough to go by place too. But I'd expected to be in the top 25% or so in a field of 400 (based on the past couple of years). This year the field was only about 200 and I placed 68th. I'm still happy with the result though because although the field was half the size I expected I think the vast majority of the people who didn't show are the locals who usually fill out the back of the field in running centers like the Bay Area or Mid Atlantic. North Florida is just not known for running so there weren't a lot of the locals. In other words I think I would've still placed around 68th even in a larger field so I'm very happy. To be honest just running at the race felt like a win to me.
| | | Tyler Melius and others ate at local Waffle Houses and were deeply challenged by the local music selection. |
Matt Gillette
Kyle: How did you like the 10k course?
Mr. Gillette: I liked it. Even though you did the loop 4 times and had "the wall", it ran fast. Great park for the event.
Kyle: How was the competition this year?
Mr. Gillette: Better, definitely noticed an increase in competition this year. Last year in San Fran I was 24, more competitors but this year 51st with more guys up front to complete with.
Kyle: You're happy with your performance?
Mr. Gillette: Yeah. I knew my fitness level wasn't where it was last year so 51st was perfect for me. Raced strategically, went out more conservative and worked my way up throughout the race.
Shannon McKenna
Kyle: How was your first club Nats experience?
Ms. McKenna: I LOVED my first club Nats experience! It gave me the opportunity to meet some more club members and watch some really awesome racing! I am so happy I had the chance to participate and am very excited for the upcoming Spring season!
Kyle: How'd your race go?
Ms McKenna: My race went really well! I was happy to be back to running cross country for the first time in a couple years. I raced a lot this fall but racing at Nats was one of my favorite because it always great racing with all your teammates around you!
| | | Club members also did some sightseeing, including the local penitentiary that was conveniently located just two miles away from the team hotel. |
2017 Club Dues
The Top Seven Reasons to Pay Your Club Dues
1- This helps us pay for upkeep on team website, team insurance, Highland Park facility rental fees, team gear (tents, tables), etc.
2- For $32/year, you get a gazillion Facebook notifications. That works out to roughly $.0001 per notification. That's a sweet deal, right?
3- Gym memberships charge twice as much....as their monthly fee.
4- You may meet your future spouse on this team. It happens.
5- You get awarded unlimited access to Mike Anis telling his driving stories for Lyft. Oh wait...forget we mentioned that part.
6- Think about all the great friends and people you meet! Most of them are totally worth $32/year. A solid 75%, we would say.
7- You get to feel the unconditional support, inspiration, and love of New Jersey's biggest running club. Unless you pass a teammate in the final homestretch of a race, and then they might throw an elbow to your kidney.
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